


A Fire For Any Occasion

by Ampersand_Martin



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: 5+1 Things, Campfires, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), mostly because he builds good cooking fires, no beta we die like men, wild is an arsonist, wild is good at cooking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24992857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ampersand_Martin/pseuds/Ampersand_Martin
Summary: The group of travelling Links had decided that Wild was the best cook early on in their travels, but it took them a bit longer to realize that this skill came with a fun bonus: Wild was good with fire.Or, 5 times Wild proves that he’s handy with fire plus one where he’s definitely just an arsonist.
Comments: 17
Kudos: 317





	A Fire For Any Occasion

**Author's Note:**

> Me, writing a fanfic for the first time in 5 years? It's more likely than you think.

Warriors knew fire was useful. It could cook food, boil water, keep away monsters, and stave off a chill. He also knew it was dangerous. He was familiar with the way fires burned on a battlefield and collapsed homes. Being around the Links wasn’t exactly reassuring that fire was his friend either. 

Sure, they all knew how to build a basic fire. Practice, more than any skill, had given them all the ability to keep a fire burning through the night. The exceptions to this rule were Four and Wild. Despite his experience in a forge, Four ended up being the worst at building a fire. He had explained repeatedly that the forge used coals and actual supplies for getting a fire burning at home.

Wild was the exact opposite, he started fires faster than anyone else and seemingly used less fuel. It made sense, Wild had been dubbed the head cook and he needed fire to make food. Plus, Warriors had once watched wild take out an enemy with nothing more than a club he had lit on fire. Needless to say, it was not an experience Warriors was eager to repeat. 

They were starting to make camp and assign nightly roles when the topic of who would build the fire came up. Wild usually built a fire immediately after they picked a campsite, but he and Hyrule had thrown down their supplies and almost immediately taken off into the woods to go hunt, claiming something about needing ‘survivalist bros’ time, so Warriors volunteered himself and Legend. 

Warriors could just hear Four defending himself to Twilight from where he was gathering logs in the woods.

“The forge runs extremely hot,” Four repeated for the millionth time. “Do you want me to burn this whole area down?” 

Warriors grabbed another decent sized log. Said area was a patch of forest in an unknown Hyrule. There wasn’t anything pressing happening and for once no one was seriously injured, so it had been a more relaxed night. 

“What if you get separated! You should at least know how to get a basic fire started.” Came Twilight’s exasperated response. Warriors found himself agreeing. He learned how to make fires during his days in knight training. He was one of the few that also learned fire safety, as evidenced by the fact he also grabbed some rocks to make a fire ring. 

As he dropped off what was in his hands, he saw Legend now sitting next to Twilight and Four with his ankle propped on one of Warriors’ gathered logs. He pointed to Warriors and said “Why don’t you let Mister Fire Safety over there teach you how to build a fire.”

Legend’s sprained ankle had gotten him out of hunting for kindling and was instead put in charge of clearing some debris for the fire ring. Warriors shrugged as he started lining up the stones around where Legend had cleared space. It wasn’t long before Wind was back with the last bits of kindling and he started putting the wood into the ‘fire shape’.

“You just have to build a pyramid with the big logs, and then put your kindling in the middle.” He said with a glance to Four. He fished around in his pack for his tinderbox, and it was after finding it buried in the very bottom of his bag that he realized it had been quite a while since he had last lit a fire. 

“What’s that?” He heard Wind ask. Warriors explained how his tinderbox was where he kept his little flint and steel. He struck them together and before long the fire was blazing a nice orange-y color. 

“I knew I wasn’t the only one with a tinderbox!” Twilight shouted. 

“I keep telling Wild he doesn’t need a whole chunk of flint and the way he hits them with his weapons is destroying them even faster. I don’t understand how he breaks every weapon he touches!” Four added. 

“Not to mention it isn’t really safe.” Warriors added. Legend teased, but now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure how Wild hadn’t burned down a forest yet. He never used an actual fire ring and only cleared debris if it was damp. Despite the fact Wild was ridiculously unsafe around fire, his never seemed to go out before he wanted or spread beyond whatever clump of logs he threw down. Somewhere along the line Warriors had mixed up Wild’s proficiency with fire and the level of safety with which he handled it. The flaming club incident popped into his head again, and he was quick to push it out. 

The more he thought about it, the more Warriors realized how comfortable Wild was with flames. Warriors laughed to himself as he remembered Wild’s worse than average swimming. Perfect for someone so totally at ease with fire. 

Legend elbowed him and asked what was so funny, but at that moment the very person Warriors had been thinking about returned. Wild and Hyrule were both grinning as they broke through the edge of the woods and into the little clearing. While their hands were empty, the small blood splatter visible on Wild’s tunic hinted that the two of them had butchered their catch away from camp. A voice in the back of Warriors’ head thought that Twilight would be pleased. 

“Oh cool, you got a fire going without me.” Wild said as he plopped himself down next to the fire. He looked critically at it for a moment before turning to Warriors and saying “Thank you Mister Fire Safety.” He could barely hear Legend’s snort over the rush of his ears. Wild continued to pull vegetables and meat from his slate, unfazed as Warriors tried to tackle Legend. 

“You wouldn’t hurt an injured man!” Warriors wouldn’t hurt an injured man, but he would hurt an injured idiot. 

He was so wrapped up in half-heartedly rough housing with Legend (while honestly being mindful of his sprained ankle) that he almost missed Hyrule quietly asking Wild why he wasn’t using the meat from today. 

“Eh, I want to save it for a day when I can cook it slowly, it’s nice meat.” Wild’s reply was smooth enough, but Warriors caught the slightest bit of hesitation in it. “Besides, skewers will be nice over the fire.” The second part of Wild’s statement was oddly quiet, as if he only wanted Hyrule to hear, but it was hard hiding anything when they were sitting so close. 

The skewers were assembled and roasted without issue and Warriors was pleased. Wild’s slate kept meat indefinitely fresh, so there was no telling how old the meat they were eating actually was. When they first started travelling together most of the Links were a bit wary of eating food from Wild’s slate, but they had abandoned those reservations when they realized how convenient it was. 

After they finished eating, Warriors watched Wild get up and head to the outskirts of the clearing. He followed, curious as to what Wild was doing, and saw him start gathering more sticks. 

“I thought Wind and I grabbed the normal amount,” he said as he got close to Wild, joining him in picking up sticks. 

“You built a pyramid fire though, I usually build star fires,” Wild’s reply sounded slightly confused, but also exasperated as if the answer was obvious. 

“There’s a difference?”

“Wait, what?” Wild stood up to fully face Warriors. “How many types of fires do you think there are?”

“Two apparently.” Wild laughed at his response, but Warriors could tell it was a laugh of disbelief. 

“I can think of eight right now. Did you guys just assume I was some sort of fire wizard? I just know how to build a fire to meet my needs.” Wild went back to digging in the bushes. 

“No, we didn’t think you were a fire wizard.” They definitely all thought he was a fire wizard.

Warriors continued to gather kindling for a few minutes before he realized something. “Is that why you changed dinner plans so quickly?”

“Well, yeah. I was confused why you made a fire for warmth when you knew Hyrule and I were getting fresh meat.” Wild handed Warriors a bundle of sticks. “Pyramid fires suck for cooking. There’s no flat place to put down a rock or pan, and then tend to burn themselves out quickly unless you make a huge one.” 

As Warriors added the new kindling to the pile near the fire, he made a promise in the back of his mind to pay closer attention to the way Wild built campfires. He had almost convinced himself that Wild was perfectly normal, and just had extra knowledge about wood stacking. However, when Wild sat down in front of the fire it instantly blazed a little brighter and Warriors put another tally in the ‘Wild is secretly a fire wizard’ column.

**Author's Note:**

> I like to imagine Warriors is the type of observant where he notices the small changes in a person's posture or inflection that hint they're upset, but would also completely not notice that the campfire is a different shape every night.


End file.
